Heartiest congratulations to Dublin, for whom 11 players are after picking up their sixth All-Ireland winner’s medal.

But what we saw yesterday was probably the most ruthless act in the history of the GAA.

And it was a snapshot of just why Jim Gavin is so successful.

It says everything about how ruthless Gavin is that he wouldn’t give Bernard Brogan one minute after his return from a cruciate injury suffered in February – and didn’t even name him in the matchday 26.

Not only that, Paul Flynn – who has been very good off the bench this summer – didn’t get on.

It would have been a fitting farewell to both men to get on the pitch, even for a minute.

This could well be the last year for them in the blue jersey, particularly in Flynn’s case, as he takes over the CEO role with the Gaelic Players Association.

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And it’s all part of why what unfolded on the Croke Park pitch was inevitable, and why, after the extraordinary feat of winning the All-Ireland in six of the last eight years, this Dublin side are now facing into immortality.

From what I’ve seen, it’s inevitable that a never before achieved five-in-a-row will happen next year.

Yesterday was death by a thousand cuts.

What was so interesting about this All-Ireland final is that when he sat down on Saturday night to plan a best-case scenario for the opening quarter, Mickey Harte would have wanted it to go just as it did.

Tyrone’s strong start made Dublin jittery. They were dropping balls and making wrong decisions.

Then bang, in the 19th minute the game changed on what I felt was a poor decision by the officials.

I said it in commentary at the time, I did think that Mattie Donnelly’s knee knocked the ball away from Paul Mannion and that it wasn’t a penalty.

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But at the same time it’s hard to have sympathy for Tyrone given the way they reacted to that setback.

You just can’t allow that to affect you in the way they did. After Mannion stepped up for the penalty, Dublin scored 2-6 to Tyrone’s one point.

It was an incredible swing in Dublin’s favour. And it was game over at that stage.

Dublin destroyed Tyrone in that period. It could have got ugly after that and the six point margin in the end flattered Tyrone.

It was a shame for them because they should have been six or seven points up at their ease before Mannion struck.

Fifteen wides, including nine in the first half, didn’t help.

The big players stepped up for Dublin in the second and third quarters. Jack McCaffrey, James McCarthy, Brian Fenton, Ciaran Kilkenny and Mannion took control. Young Eoin Murchan worked himself to a standstill in his first final.

Having made that great start, Tyrone ultimately got so little return from their own big players, the likes of Colm Cavanagh, Peter Harte, Mattie Donnelly, Niall Sludden and Tiernan McCann.

They just weren’t to the fore as they should have been.

Tyrone battled to the end and that late penalty got them back in touch, but they will rue checking out in the second and third quarters, and that’s where they lost it.

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